Medical Nutrition Therapy Health Article

Definition

Medical nutrition therapy (MNT) refers to the assessment of the nutritional status of patients with an illness, diet-related condition, or injury, in order to benefit the patient's own health and reduce health-care costs. MNT includes setting goals for the patient's treatment and developing a specialized nutrition prescription that includes patient education and self-management training. MNT, which is also called therapeutic nutrition, has become an increasingly important component of integrated health-care systems.

Purpose

The purpose of MNT is to identify patients at risk for major nutrition-related health problems and recommend dietary adjustments leading to better health outcomes and improved quality of life. Eight of the 10 leading causes of death in the American population—including coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes mellitus, and some cancers—are related to food and alcohol consumption patterns. Other important patient populations who benefit from MNT include the obese, the elderly, and infants of low birth weight. Obesity increases the risk of gout, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, and hypertension as well as stroke and cardiovascular disease; while many of the elderly suffer from malnutrition. Low birth rate is the greatest single health risk in newborns.

MNT is also used to treat such disorders as anorexia and bulimia nervosa, cystic fibrosis, irritable bowel syndrome, hyperlipidemia, difficulty with lactose digestion, gastric ulcers, sprue (a malabsorption syndrome), and (in children) failure to thrive. Adequate nutrition is essential to reduce morbidity and mortality from these and other acute or chronic conditions. MNT helps to contain health-care costs while benefiting patients directly by offering alternatives to more expensive drug treatments and minimizing the need for surgery or lengthy hospital stays.

Description

Medical nutritional therapy is used in a variety of treatment settings, including home care and outpatient care as well as acute or long-term care facilities. In most of these settings, medical nutrition therapy includes a comprehensive review of the patient's medical history and a dietary assessment with laboratory values and anthropometric measurements.